True Meaning
by Peace-Luv-Sherry
Summary: What happens after the ending of The Golden Lily? *The Golden Lily Spoilers!*
1. Chapter 1

**WARNING: Major Golden Lily spoilers! If you haven`t read The Golden Lily then don`t read! You`ve been warned…**

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I couldn`t believe that Adrian had kissed me and I actually _liked _it.

Even as I started driving away from Adrian`s house he was still watching me with those fierce green eyes I always adored and an expression on his face that was a mix of both sadness and love. When I got one last look back at Adrian I focused my attention back on driving Latte.

What was Adrian thinking! Does he even know in how much trouble I could get into if anyone saw us kissing? The alchemists would eventually find out and they`d send me to where they`re "taking care of" Keith...the thought itself gave me chills and _not_ the chills that I got while kissing Adrian. What even surprised me more was that Adrian didn`t take none of this seriously. He didn`t understand that a moroi and a human just can`t…well, have relationships together. It was just wrong and went against everything I believed in and what I have been taught about vampires. I kept repeating to myself that the kiss had meant nothing to me and it didn`t change the relationship me and Adrian have together-friends. We were friends and friends only, nothing more, nothing less.

Jill was at Clarence`s house feeding and I decided that I would go over to his house as well. I remembered Eddie and Angeline saying they`d go over to Clarence`s to take Jill for feeding while I took Sonya to the airport and that I could stop by later at Clarence`s house once I was done taking Sonya to the airport and I agreed on doing so.

I parked Latte between a red 1990 Honda Civic and a blue 1980 Toyota Corolla and put the car keys in my pocket before getting out the car. As I got out the car and went over to Clarence`s front door I noticed that the original door knob had been replaced with a touchpad door knob. I knocked once on the door and studied the new door knob for just a minute before someone inside the house went over to the door and took off multiple locks before actually even opening the door. Hazel eyes and sandy blonde hair greeted me with a smile at the door and I smiled back at Eddie.

"Hey Sydney,"he said as he made way for me to come in.

"Eddie, what happened to the other door knob?"I pointed to the touchpad door knob and Eddie responded with a sigh.

"Clarence,"he said like that was the complete answer to my question, "he said he wanted more protection for his house."

I walked in the house and Eddie closed the door behind me. "Right, because of the Warriors."

Eddie`s face was serious and he locked the door with several new added door locks. "He won`t stop talking about them,Sydney! When ever I start a conversation with him he always has to start talking about _them__._"

"Do you think we paranoid him?"I could see Clarence talking to Angeline and Angeline`s eyes were wide as Clarence spoke to her. I couldn`t hear what they were talking about because of the TV being on in the living room but I knew that the topic was about the Vampire Hunters.

"I wouldn`t really say paranoid."Eddie crossed his arms and I quickly remembered about the picture Sonya had given me before dropping her off at the airport.

"Wait a second,"I put a hand inside my satchel and took out the old photograph. "Take a look at this, it`s Clarence with Marcus Finch-the alchemist Clarence had talked about."

Eddie took the picture and studied it for a moment. "Who gave you this?"

"Sonya gave it to me before leaving, Clarence told her to give it to me."

Eddie studied the picture closely for one last time and turned it around. "The back says _Marcus_-it`s true…Clarence wasn`t lying about him."

"And did you notice the tattoo on his left cheek? It was tattooed over an Alchemist lily."Eddie`s eyes widened and he took a better look at the picture.

"You`re right…is that even possible?"Eddie looked up from the picture and I wondered the same thing.

Was it possible? Could someone somehow replace the golden lily tattoo with a different tattoo? Would that mean that you are no longer an alchemist? Or that Marcus Finch-in some crazy weird way-was an alchemist once but decided to quit? I`ve never heard of something like that happen but I was curious to know more.

"I have no idea,"was the only answer I could come up with.

"Sydney!"I turned around to find Jill wiping her mouth and grinning at me. "You`re here."

Eddie nodded at me and handed the picture back, "I`ll find more information about this,"Eddie whispered before leaving me with Jill and heading to the living room where Angeline and Clarence were in deep conversation.

I was waiting for Jill to start a conversation or something but instead she was just staring at me and looking at me from head to toe.

"Hey Jill, did you feed already?"I was getting uncomfortable with her looking at me and as if my wish were granted she looked away from me for a moment.

"Oh, yeah,"she looked at me like she wanted to say something more but instead said nothing.

"Is something wrong Jill?"

"Is it true? You and Baryden broke up?"Jill pulled on one of her curls nervously and bit her lip.

"_Brayden?_ Yes and-wait how did you even know that?"The only person I had told about the break up was to Adrian and I don`t believe that Adrian could have already spread the news to Jill...but then again,they had a bond.

Jill began twirling the curl she was pulling on and stopped biting her lip, "the bond."

I groaned and shook my head. How much did she get to see through the bond? I then became uncomfortable with the idea that Jill saw the conversation me and Adrian had and the part when Adrian had kissed me…

"I only saw that part!"Jill said nervously as if she had read my mind.

"Then why do you look so nervous?"

"Because-"Jill tilted her head and a lopsided smirk spread across her face. "Did you do something with your hair today? It looks so pretty and your clothes are so-"

"Jill!"I exclaimed, "you didn`t answer my question."

Jill blinked twice and scratched her head, "oh, I`m sorry Sydney I-wait what was your question again?"

"Well, it doesn`t matter now but I was wondering why you looked so nervous all of a sudden."I crossed my arms and Jill looked nervous again.

"It`s Adrian…I don`t think I`ve seen him so…_normal_ in a long time until today."

"And sober?"I added.

Jill nodded, "I guess I don`t have to worry about him anymore. I mean…every time I see through the bond Adrian actually looks and feels _happy_ and not depressed like he was when Rose and him broke up."

I closed my eyes remembering about the kiss Adrian and I had shared and seemed not to get the image of us kissing out of my head no matter how hard I tried. It was stuck in my head and there was no way to get the image out.

I opened my eyes again and found Jill staring at me again with a dreamy expression on her face. "I can feel what Adrian`s feeling," Jill began saying. "He feels like…like he`s made a right decision for some reason…but I don`t know why."

I knew exactly why and didn`t bother telling it to Jill.

Jill closed her eyes and focused on keeping her eyes shut for a minute. "I see him. He`s finishing up a painting... I think it`s a painting of a lily…now he`s heading to the freezer. He took out an ice cream-no wait, I mean…a gelato? Well, its pomegranate and now he`s eating it."Jill opened her eyes again and a puzzled look came on her face. "I wonder why Adrian looks a little more upset than last time I saw him through the bond."

"Yeah…"I said and felt as if I had made the wrong decision._ No, Sydney, you made the right decision and Stanton would be so proud of you if she saw you right now. Vampires and humans aren`t meant to be together. You made the right decision, it was Adrian who didn`t._ My brain began hurting from thinking a lot lately and I decided to clear my head for now.

"Sydney is everything okay? I mean, you looked very thoughtful."Jill snapped me out of my thoughts and I lied by nodding at her.

"Of course Jill, why wouldn`t it be?"

Jill smiled at me and nodded. "Sorry, I just hate seeing you worrying about something…it sort of makes me worried too."

I smiled back at her, "there`s nothing to worry about Jill. The only ones who should be worried right now is me, Angeline and Eddie and it`s because we want to keep you safe."

"I know,"Jill`s smile turned into a frown and she sighed, "I hate that you guys have to worry about me and I don`t have to worry about anything at all. It`s like you guys are the ones making my life easier, which I really hate because you guys are doing all the hard work while I just watch you guys do it."

"Jill, we _chose_ to do this and it`s not wrong if we made the decision ourselves. We all had a choice and we chose this one."

"Are you sure about that? I mean, take Eddie for an example, he`s a dhampir and once you`re born as a dhampir you have to become a guardian and I don`t really think Eddie made the choice to become a guardian himself. Who knows? Maybe he wanted to become something else. You too, did you really want to become an alchemist or did you just do it to please your father?"

The truth was Jill was right. The one thing Eddie, Angeline and I all had in common was that we didn`t make the decision to be doing this and being here right now ourselves, others did. Then I began to question myself: did I really want to be an alchemist? Did I want to devote my whole life to working with alchemists and have no time to go to college-something I`ve always wanted to do.

"What are you thinking?"Jill asked as she studied my face.

"I`m beginning to wonder how my life would have been like if I hadn`t had this golden lily tattooed on my cheek for the rest of my life."

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**So, what do you think? Should I continue or is one chapter okay? Let me know!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright, so since the majority of you were asking for me to do another chapter of this Fanfic I decided: why not? So here it is and all rights belong to Richelle Mead! Enjoy (:**

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Sometimes it even scared _me_ how much I`ve gotten used to being with vampires. I no longer referred to them as "evil creatures of the night" like I used to before I met Rose but instead thought of them as humans and normal people. If Keith was here right now he would continue calling me a "vamp lover" and who knows how far he would go to prove that I _was_ a "vamp lover"? I tried too hard not to think about Keith right now and headed to the living room where Clarence and Angeline were watching TV and Eddie was in the corner of the room watching them. Jill had told me that she wasn`t finished feeding because when she heard that I was here she immediately left Dorothy, the feeder, in the bedroom alone just to come talk to me. Even though we didn`t finish our conversation, Jill gave me something to think about.

"Hey Sydney, did you drop Sonya off the airport?"Angeline noticed I had entered the room and now Clarence and Eddie`s eyes were on me as I sat down on a chair close to the window.

"Yeah,"I replied.

"Sydney, my sweetheart, did you do any research about the alchemist who saved me from those vampire hunters…Marcus Finch?"Clarence had a smile on his face and I could tell that Eddie was beyond annoyed at how many times Clarence had mentioned the word _vampire hunters_ today but didn`t show it on his face.

"Not really, sir. I mentioned it to my boss, Stanton, but did not receive any information back."

Clarence frowned and nodded back at me. "Oh, I see…Well, thank you for asking my darling."

"No problem, sir."Judging by Clarence`s face I knew that he was disappointed with the answer I had given him. I and Stanton have not talked to each other ever since I mentioned to her about Marcus Finch and something in my brain was telling me that she was trying to hide something about him from me.

"Hey, what`s up with you and that Marcus Finch guy? Why is he that important to you anyways?"Angeline blurted out. I shot her a disapproving look and she mouthed sorry to me.

Clarence noticed my disapproving look and shook it off, "it`s okay Sydney, I don`t mind Angeline asking," Clarence turned to Angeline who was sitting right next to him and was all ears and began saying, "Marcus Finch saved my life from those evil vampire hunters. I and he were really good friends even though he was an alchemist-but we got along very well."

"Wait, didn`t someone find out sooner or later that he was friends with a vam-you?"I corrected myself immediately and didn`t even notice that I myself was curious about this topic about and alchemist and a vampire being friends. It sort of reminded me of someone I knew…

"Of course they did," Clarence began. "The reason why the vampire hunters were about to kill me was because they knew Marcus and I were friends. How else do you think they had found me?"

"Sydney, isn`t that sort of what happened to you guys?"Angeline questioned.

"I think so…"

"You said that the Warriors and alchemists used to work together, right?"Eddie asked, now interested in talking about the Warriors.

"Yeah, but like I said, that was long ago,"was my response to Eddie who was now sitting next to Angeline.

"Well, what if that`s it? That day when Sonya was attacked by the Warriors, maybe they found her by the help of alchemists."Eddie`s face was serious and I immediately shook my head.

"No Eddie, that`s impossible. You know that alchemists can`t just give out information about vampires to some random group of people," I pointed to my golden lily tattoo for emphasis, "this can`t let us do that."

"What if they stole some documents or something?"Angeline suggested.

"What do you mean?"Eddie questioned.

Angeline shrugged and continued. "What if the vampire hunters sneaked into the alchemist`s documents and stole some information from you guys?"

Before denying Angeline I thought about this for a moment. How could a group of vampire hunters sneak into the alchemist`s documents and not get caught? Was there something that was missing here? Vampire hunters sneaking into the alchemist`s documents and not getting caught...how peculiar. Then that`s when it hit me. With the help of Adrian, I had caught Keith extracting blood and saliva from Clarence in order of selling it to the tattoo parlor where everyone in school got their tattoos made from. None of them knew what was in the tattoo`s ink when they were getting it made but I had reported what I saw and had discovered to the alchemists and they took care of both Keith and the tattoo issue. So, if Keith was an alchemist and I had caught him selling blood and saliva from Clarence to a normal human…then wouldn`t that also be possible in this case? An alchemist working together with a human. Hence the fact about an alchemist selling blood and saliva to a human, this was the missing piece to the puzzle. It was confusing but it all made sense at the end.

"That can be possible," I finally said.

"Really?"Angeline looked surprised and smiled, winning an admiring look from Eddie.

"Yeah, I mean, maybe it is possible for a human err-vampire hunter to team up with an alchemist in order to get the information that they need."

"I think you`re getting somewhere Sydney," Eddie said with a nod.

"So do I,"I agreed myself.

"I should talk to Dimitri, when I have the chance, about this."Eddie went back to serious mode and Angeline admired his seriousness.

"You`re cute when you go back to being serious," Angeline commented and took his hand. Eddie didn`t even pull his hand away from Angeline like he would`ve done before. Instead, Eddie put an arm around her and I couldn`t decide whether to be grossed out or happy for the two of them.

Eddie was considering going out with Angeline (which was a huge shock to both me and him) one day but for now they were getting to know each other a little better. I began seeing a change in Angeline after she was finished serving her suspensions in school-after a little incident had occurred at Amberwood-and Eddie noticed it immediately too. Angeline was becoming mature and everyone was proud of her for improving herself. As much as I hated a vampire and a human having a relationship together, seeing two dhampirs together didn`t really gross me out. Sort of like Rose and Dimitri…they made a very cute couple and Rose was lucky to have a guy like him. However, what did bother me were The Keepers who paid no attention what so ever to whom they had relationships with. Angeline was from The Keepers and was raised in a way that even my dad would disapprove of. I on the other hand was raised very differently and was taught to say "yes ma`am" or "yes sir" at a young age and it's been a habit of mine to say. Looking back on my life as an alchemist and rewinding everything I`ve ever been taught about vampires… made me question myself a little more: Am I spending too much time with them? Do I belong in a re-education center like Keith? And lastly, why do I feel more comfortable around vampires than I was before?

"Sydney, may I have a word with you privately?"Clarence snapped me out of my thoughts and I nodded at him without hesitation.

"Angeline and I will just be in the kitchen," Eddie said as he stood up, still holding Angeline`s hand.

I took a seat next to Clarence as Angeline and Eddie left the living room and Clarence placed a hand on top of mines. "Sydney…Marcus and I were really good friends and it would mean the world to me if you could find him somehow."

"I know sir…I`ll do everything I can to find him." I said it with honesty and Clarence squeezed my hand.

"Thank you...you`re a very good girl Sydney. Many people should look up to you as an example," Clarence gave me a small smile and I answered once again with all my honesty.

"So I`ve been told."

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**So, what do you guys think so far? Review and let me know!**


	3. Chapter 3

**All rights belong to Richelle Mead and Bloodlines**

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Dimitri Belikov was the most tenacious, robust and confident dhampir I had ever met. It wouldn`t have surprised me if a whole army of strigoi walked in Clarence`s house and he took down all of them in less than a minute; that`s just the type of guy he was. I felt safe around him and I began to understand why Eddie wanted to be more like Dimitri or why Adrian sometimes called Eddie "mini Dimitri".

Today after school, only I and Eddie were the ones going to Clarence`s house. We were going to discuss with Dimitri about Marcus Finch and the theories we had come up with about the Warriors. So far, I had no success in finding new information about Marcus Finch and (like before) there were no records or documents about Marcus Finch according to the alchemists. When school was over for the day I had more than enough time to go to my dorm and change into some jeans and a brown blouse with black flat shoes. After I was done changing Jill walked in the room and threw her book bag on the floor.

"What`s wrong Jill? Are you having a rough day?"I was about to leave but Jill`s expression had stopped me dead on my tracks.

"Here," Jill tossed me something that looked like a golden necklace and it took me some time to realize that it was actually _my_ golden cross.

I had lent her my golden cross for the same reason why I wanted to give Adrian my golden cross that Halloween night-because I cared about what happened to him. I also cared about what happened to Jill too and I remembered that everything Adrian felt she felt as well. So the best solution I could come up with to help Jill was to give her something that didn`t contain magic for once and make her realize that magic isn`t the answer to everything. It had worked for me when I was stressed or needed all the help I could get because my golden cross helped me realize: who I was, where I came from, who I believed in, who were my true friends and much more…but I couldn`t quite understand why Jill had given me the golden cross back. I mean I did want my cross back but it made me curious as to why Jill didn`t want it.

"You don`t want it anymore?"I asked slowly.

Jill`s expression immediately changed and she pointed at my brown blouse. "Really Sydney?" She crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow, "brown?"

Her immediate change in expression caught me by surprise and I nodded at her. "Yes Jill," I sighed and put my golden cross around my neck, "_brown_."

Jill shook her head like I was making the biggest mistake of my life. "Don`t you have any clothes that are _not_ for going to a funeral?"

"These are not funeral clothes! I just don`t like wearing bright colors."I watched as Jill headed over to her drawer and took out a dark blue flannel shirt then looked over at me.

"Here," she tossed me the flannel shirt and I clumsily cached it, "wear this."

I thought of an excuse for not wearing it and one immediately came to mind. "I don`t think it`ll fit me."

"Why on earth wouldn`t it fit you? You`re skinny! Why do you keep on telling yourself that you`re not?" Jill looked at me like I was being childish about this and I had no time to come up with an answer.

"Just try it on," Jill finally said as she put one hand on her hip.

"Jill, I don`t have time for this. I need to get-"

"Sydney, just put it on. Do it for me-to make _me _happy...Pleeeeease,"Jill pouted and I gave up.

"Fine," I rolled my eyes and walked over to the bathroom, "but just this one time."

Jill grinned at me and jumped up and down. "Thanks Sydney! You`re the best."How weird. First Jill walks in the room mad for some reason and tosses me my golden cross and then she makes me wear one of her flannel shirts and now all of a sudden she`s the normal happy Jill she is when I decide to put on her shirt. Was something wrong with her?

When I was done changing into the dark blue flannel shirt I noticed that it fit me good. It wasn`t neither too loose nor too tight on me; it was perfect. Jill had noticed too when I walked out the bathroom and she commented, "Wow, it looks better on you than it does on me!"

"What size is this?"

"Small, why?"

Wow, really? Was I that skinny?

It didn`t matter. I would never have a perfect body like Jill`s. "Never mind," I took a look at my watch and noticed that I had to get going with Eddie to Clarence`s house. "I need to go now."

"Wait, aren`t you gonna put some make-up on? Perhaps some blue eye shadow to match the dark blue flannel shirt?"Jill took her make-up bag from her drawer and I shook my head.

"No. I already did my make up."My make-up was already perfectly done; I had put on just the perfect amount of blush on my cheeks and some black eyeliner along with some lip gloss on my lips and I had no more time to waste. I had to get going right now because I hated being late.

"Only just this last touch and that`s it," Jill begged.

"Sorry Jill, but I have to go."I took my purse and opened the door to leave but Jill stopped me.

"Wait…"Jill grabbed my arm. "Sydney, you know that Adrian really, really likes you right?"

I nodded at her a little bit surprised. "Yes I do."

Jill let go of my arm and looked down at the floor. "Okay. Have fun at Clarence`s house then."

"Thanks... have fun with Angeline."

Once I got outside I found Eddie waiting by Latte with his arms crossed and a neutral expression on his face. I kept on questioning what Jill had meant by: _you know that Adrian really, really likes you right?_ Over and over again and my heart began to beat at a fast rate just thinking that Jill had found out about what happened between Adrian and I.I shook the thought out of my head and walked over to Latte.

"Sorry for the wait," I apologized and unlocked Latte.

"No problem."Eddie did a double take before getting in the car and pointed at my shirt, "It`s blue."

I nodded and looked down at the shirt. "Really? Is it that noticeable?"

Eddie laughed and shrugged. "Well, I just never expected you to wear…such a normal color."

I rolled my eyes and opened the car door. "Really? You too?"

We both got in the car and as always I took the driver`s seat while Eddie sat down next to me on the passenger`s seat. "Alright, who talked you into wearing that shirt?"Eddie put on his seatbelt and I did the same.

"Guess."I turned Latte`s engine on and drove out of Amberwood`s parking lot and continued driving until we left Amberwood itself.

"Hmm,"Eddie studied me and then nodded. "I`m guessing it was Jill considering that you two probably weigh the same and both your clothes fit each other."

How did he know?

"Wow, you`re good."I noticed that now Eddie was wearing a white polo shirt with jeans and black sneakers and I began to feel a little relieved that I had changed my brown blouse before driving to Clarence`s house. I wasn`t a huge fan of wearing bright colors but the color of Jill`s flannel shirt-dark blue-was actually a nice color. It wasn`t a very bright color-like red-and I felt comfortable wearing it. I should buy more clothes that are the color dark blue in the future just to make others-like Jill-happy and convince them that I don`t only wear colors like brown or gray only…that would definitely score me some points.

The drive to Clarence`s house wasn`t that long so it didn`t surprise me when Eddie told me, "We`re here." I parked Latte in front of Clarence`s house and turned off the engine. I put the car keys in my pocket and then took off my seatbelt. "Let`s go in."

When we knocked on Clarence`s door Dimitri immediately answered us and greeted us with a warm smile. "Hello."

"Guardian Belikov,"Eddie shook his hand and I shook Dimitri`s hand as well.

"Eddie,"Dimitri nodded at him and then nodded at me, "Sydney."

"Can we come in?"I asked politely.

"Of course,"Dimitri made way for us to come in and I walked in first while Eddie followed behind me.

There was no sight of Clarence when I walked in which meant he was either feeding or just sleeping somewhere. However, the TV was on in the sitting room and it made me wonder if Clarence had fallen asleep watching TV or someone else was in the sitting room watching TV...but who could it be then?

Dimitri closed the door and locked all the locks on it. "You two can just wait in the sitting room, I`ll be right back." Eddie and I nodded at him and Dimitri went over to the kitchen.

"I think they`re setting Clarence`s house with a security system," Eddie noticed as he pointed at a motion detector in the ceiling.

Apparently, a million door locks on the front door and touchpad door knobs all over the house weren`t enough for Clarence. "Wow," was all I could get out.

We reached the sitting room and when I walked in the sitting room I felt my heart stop for a second and I had trouble trying to catch my breath by the person who was sitting down in front of me. I froze and swallowed as my eyes met Adrian`s.

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**Let me know what you think!**


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